By Mike Callicrate | February 20, 2014 This week I’m taking a moment to observe the 10-year anniversary of the most important court case in the history of the U.S. cattle industry, while turning the last page on a powerful new book that tells in precise and riveting detail the sad story of why the lawsuit was so critically needed. Christopher Leonard’s new book, The Meat Racket – The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business, which hits book Read More …
Under Siege: The U.S. Live Cattle Industry ACADEMIC JOURNAL ARTICLE By Bullard, Bill South Dakota Law Review, Vol. 58, No. 3 EXCERPT: Although the largest U.S. agricultural sector—the live cattle industry—is still comprised of hundreds of thousands of independent producers, it is currently on a trajectory to become a vertically integrated supply chain controlled by just a handful of dominant meatpackers. This is the fate already suffered by the nation’s hog and poultry industries within which once competitive Read More …
Remember that kid on the playground, not the bully, but his smaller, weaker spokesman; that big-mouth side-kick that did most of the talking? Well some of these little rascals grow up, but never shut up. Some get paid for their lip bumping; others just talk because they love to hear the sound of their voice. Either way, they talk and talk and talk because they’re afraid to walk the walk. Steve Dittmer is one of those talkers. He has Read More …
As Big Food’s tentacles wind tighter around markets and governments, OCM fights on From seed to plate, a handful of global corporations have combined their power to extract unprecedented amounts of resources and wealth. Even Upton Sinclair* couldn’t have predicted that today our nation’s four largest meat packers would control over 85% of the market. Surely even he would be surprised to find the biggest companies in all three major meat categories— beef, pork, and poultry—now foreign owned! Read More …
For Immediate Release Jan. 27, 2014 Contact: Melisa Augusto, 202-314-3191, maugusto@nfudc.org NFU Pleased with Initial Read of Farm Bill Conference Report WASHINGTON (Jan. 27, 2014) – National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson issued the following statement following the 2014 Farm Bill Conference Committee’s release of its report on The Agricultural Act of 2014: “Upon initial review of the language released by the committee, NFU is pleased with the final bill. I know that the farm bill is Read More …
Americans are increasingly becoming aware of the loss of their freedom as government regulations becomes more invasive. Unfortunately, it takes people actually losing those freedoms to start realizing what is happening. One such group are local organic farms and growers. This article does a great job of asking logical questions about the reasons behind the regulations that are choking out local farmers. They are seeing, first hand, the government’s willingness to infringe on freedom through regulations as they get major Read More …
We’re continuing to push. We have to be relentless. We have to act again and again and again. Indeed, for the next 10 days, CPA and over 60 other organizations are jointly asking their members and supporters to contact Congress in a very large push. Senator Max Baucus and Representative Dave Camp filed the dangerous “Fast Track” bill (Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2014) to help the President ram poorly negotiated trade and global governance agreements through Read More …
January 7, 2014 Mo. Soybean Assn. leadership shakeup ousts exec. director David A. Lieb | Parsons, Kansas Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two longtime leaders of the Missouri Soybean Association are out of their jobs as part of an organizational shakeup following an audit of how the prominent agricultural group managed millions of dollars of merchandising fees paid by farmers. Board members of the soybean organization declined to release the audit and, in interviews with The Read More …